The US commits $2 billion to UN humanitarian aid for 2026, warning agencies to “adapt, shrink or die” as it overhauls funding mechanisms.
GENEVA: The United States has pledged an initial $2 billion for United Nations humanitarian aid in 2026.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the “new model will better share the burden of UN humanitarian work with other developed countries”.
Announced at the US mission in Geneva, the funding marks a dramatic overhaul of how Washington finances UN humanitarian work.
Instead of funding individual agencies, contributions will be funneled through the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
OCHA, headed by aid chief Tom Fletcher, will then distribute funds to 17 selected countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Myanmar, Sudan and Ukraine.
The UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund will also receive a portion of the money for swift emergency response.
Senior US official Jeremy Lewin called it an “initial anchor commitment”, with more countries to be added as funding increases.
Notably absent from the initial list were crises in Yemen and Afghanistan, where Lewin stressed the need to prevent diversion to groups like the Taliban.
Gaza was also not listed, though Lewin indicated focus would increase as President Donald Trump’s truce plan with Israel advances.
The $2 billion pledge is far less than US contributions in recent years, which exceeded $14 billion in 2022.
A State Department statement warned that “individual UN agencies will need to adapt, shrink, or die”.
Fletcher welcomed the pledge as an “extraordinary” commitment to saving lives.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s spokesman said the UN is “committed to making the most of this support to deliver real results”.
Fletcher stated that reform is underway to make humanitarian action “faster, smarter and closer to the people on the front lines”.
The UN’s 2026 Global Humanitarian Appeal seeks $23 billion to help 87 million people, a significantly reduced scope from previous years.
The UN stresses that the smaller appeal reflects funding realities, not shrunken needs, with an estimated 240 million people requiring emergency aid.
